Requiem for September 112002silkscreen on organza 45 banners, each banner 17' x 4'

Requiem for September 11th was my response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. For the 10 months following 911 I cut and re-assembled the ‘Portrait of Grief’ pages from New York Times. This was my way of doing something, anything about this national tragedy. As I read the sketches I cried and laughed and was saddened by so many lives cut short. I was struck by the youth of the victims and their apparent normalcy. These were not captains of industry, but ordinary people aspiring to the good life. What spoke to me most were the victims' faces, mostly smiling in snapshots of happy times.

Requiem for September 112002silscreen on organza45 banners, each banner 17' x 4'

I transformed this material into a large-scale installation as a memorial to the victims. What I hoped to accomplish was to put a human face on numbers that are unfathomable to most of us.

Requiem for September 11 consists of 45 organza fabric banners with names, by-line and images of all the victims of 9/11. The installation opened on September 11, 2002 on the first anniversary at CEPA's Atrium Gallery at the Market Arcade in Buffalo, NY.

Requiem for September 112002silkscreen on organza45 banners, each banner 17' x 4'

Requiem for September 112002silkscreen on organza45 banners, each banner 17' x 4'